Exploring the feud between The Streets’ Mike Skinner and Aphex Twin
Although in his music, The Streets’ Mike Skinner reads like an open book, he’s not usually one for airing his dirty laundry in public. Somebody has to truly wrong Skinner for him to publically lambast a peer, a person who he might bump into backstage at a festival. However, Aphex Twin overstepped the line.
As part of his autobiography, The Story Of The Streets, Skinner justified his rant against the DJ. He said the attack was fair game because Aphex Twin has “been quite vocal in his distaste for The Streets over the years, so fair’s fair,” before unloading upon the mysterious figure. Aphex Twin has cleverly kept a distance between his DJ persona and the man behind the mystery, Richard James. However, Skinner’s comments provide a glimpse behind the curtain.
While Skinner claimed Aphex Twin was the one who prompted his comments by being “vocal” about his distaste of The Streets, upon scouring the internet, I couldn’t find any remarks by James. Therefore, presumably, the comment was made behind closed doors to a confidante of Skinner’s, who relayed the message to The Streets founder.
Skinner explained his version of events in his book and wrote: “Don’t get me started on the Aphex Twin… He’s an absolute k**b-jockey. I’m not generally one for speaking harshly of other musicians, but he’s been quite vocal in his distaste for The Streets over the years, so fair’s fair. I don’t normally mind people not liking me, but people who don’t like me who are absolute s**t, I do have a problem with.”
He continued: “I spent an entire evening cussing him over the PA at a German festival called Melt once, after he came onstage with about 20 disabled people playing netball in wheelchairs. I realise that, on paper, this might look like quite an impressive spectacle, in a Spinal Tap kind of way, but to those who were actually there, it just felt really wrong.”
According to a comment on a dance-music forum by an audience member, the incident occurred at the 2006 edition of Melt Festival. The Streets were booked to play directly before a headline set by Aphex Twin, and Skinner used his stage time to turn the crowd against the DJ. The audience member claimed: “Apparently Mr Skinner had heard Mr James say something along the lines of ‘his music is garbage’ about Mr Skinner in private to one of his friends. This completely set him off, so between songs, he would rant about how Richard James was a wanker.”
Reportedly, Aphex Twin “was a bit irritated, but he said nothing – not a single word” about Skinner’s barrage of abuse and decided against giving the Brummie precisely what he craved. Strangely, it’s been ten years since Skinner’s book and 16 years since the infamous incident at Melt Festival, yet, the DJ still hasn’t lifted the lid on what he said.
